Asylum From Paradise
by killahxbunnay
Summary: Living in a paradise seems fun, right? What happens when your "paradise" is full of lies and childish stories? An unusually unfortunate teenager happens to stumble upon the truth of his society. But what trouble will this bring him?
1. Welcome to Libnez!

**Welcome to the Great State of Libnez!**  
_You have stepped into the worlds greatest utopia to ever roam the world.  
Here, as our ancestors, you will find your dreams come true before your eyes.  
As instated by Sir Cornelius Beck himself, every year there is a picking of your future string of jobs, what area you will live in and where you will get your schooling.  
Have Pride in Libnez,_

Sir Cornelius Beck

Being the busboy at Burger Boy wasn't _too bad_, honestly.

That's nowhere near what this story is about. Unless, you want to stop reading now and go get yourself a tasty burger from one of our many locations around the state. All five to be exact.

Our state wasn't that big or maybe it was, there was really no way of knowing beyond what we called the ring of protection, which was just a large forested area that just so happened to create a ring around the city.

We've always been taught two things while growing up:

Don't ask what's outside our wonderful state and don't question the authority.

Our state, the great state of Libnez, was surrounded by green fields, pastures, and dense forests that no one was allowed to venture into; and whoever did, was just… forgotten, as if they never existed at all. No funerals, no offerings, not even a small wail from the family they were from.

Only the "new workers generation", as said by Sir Cornelius Beck, had a bit of wonder of what happened to them, but only for a moment.

Cornelius was the first, _and only_, dictator of Libnez.

He had won against our old president, Feliks Ottun by what seemed like thousands.

The "new workers generation", or anyone under twenty, whispered in the darkest of sewers how he must have rigged it or better yet, killed Feliks out of anger for how 10% of his land was taken so that our industries could continue to grow and prosper.

No one knew if it was true or just hogwash, but we all knew to be quiet about it.

Cornelius had eyes and ears of a jackelern, one of our few native species. Guards walked the cities every day and night, eying the citizens as if they were going to take out their nearest weapon and run to the Silver Line where our beloved dictator sat and probably ate all the Yellow Lume he could manage.

Despite everything, Libnez looks extraordinary as you explore deeper and deeper into its charm.

Clear blue skies, waterfalls, towering sky-scrapers that reach even beyond the clouds, pearly white streets that lead into immensely green and perfect lawns with a granite wall surrounding a quiet crème house with a few children.

That was the problem.

Everything was so _**perfect**_.

No one fought, or at least in broad daylight or within anyone's range of hearing, there were no pest or pet problems, the livestock were never attacked, food never seemed to be too short, while you could go to a market and buy everlasting Blue Fleetings meat for only seven poliks.

After living there for presumably all of your life, you get used to all the perfections. All of the quiet streets you walk down where everyone says a curt hello before going onto their job.

Life was boring, tedious, and repetitive.

Never did one fail out of schooling or burn a house down by accident; there were no grand ceremonies or parties held once a month, unless you consider having a toast for Cornelius a party.

We all wore colour organized uniforms at school, except for purple _of course_, for Cornelius couldn't stand the thought of having purple around him.

That's where we get to me, Joyce Lombardi.

Not only was I a "regular" 17 year old, I was also part time worker at Burger Boy to buy a few things of my own such as gears, a new battery for my lanlight, and maybe save a few for some chocolates just in case I get asked to the school outing.

Though, that's very unlikely seeing as you could barely find who you came with in the ocean of blues and whites.

Even if I was to go, I wouldn't have seen many people I actually talk to. I kept to myself whenever I could because no one would take my paranoia of the state and what was going on.

Though, it might also be my obsession with what my great-great grandparent's called _steam punk_.

Unfortunately, there was nothing but their letters and pictures left of what it was. None of the dictionaries or handheld hand-gnos knew what it was either.

Though, hand-gno's only give you what's the popular answer for your question or a guess. If you asked what the answer to your homework was, it would be able to tell you to go look it up in a book rather than ask it.

It's also how people get into trouble.


	2. Please, You're Insane

School wasn't much of a joy; but neither was homework.

_If Ace was to really fly, why didn't he fly into Libnez?_

Most of our questions for our assignments were usually over two things: the state of Libnez or Cornelius. Usually you were allowed to pick which one you wanted to do.

_I_ always picked the questions about Libnez, they were a lot easier to answer than the ones over Cornelius.

Plus, you wouldn't get points taken away from your overall score if you answered it anti-Beck.

My pen clicked itself back out as my mind turned ever-so slowly.

Why _would_ he want to fly to Libnez?

If he found something much better outside of this place, why didn't he stay out there?

Did he get kicked out or was he forced to come back?

_Ace: The Story of a Dreamer_ was a supposedly true tale of a man named Ace Nomanli who was a second generation Libnez citizen who had himself a 'plane'. He told everyone he was going to go and find other people to come join the wondrous town they had created, only to go missing for years. When he came back, they labeled him an outcast for saying there was such a state better than Libnez who would gladly become friends with them while creating a form of trade. Ace was said to go missing a few weeks after he returned and was never seen again.

Old legends say that he was eaten by wild animals in our forest or he drowned at the waterfall.

I always thought he escaped and found the state he told of, living out a happy life.

Early on in life, I learned I couldn't say such things after Cornelius took reign. I had written a paper on him for a role model, I didn't get the memo that we were all writing on Cornelius and I was sent home and grounded in my room for a week.

They had started burning anything from before his reign over other worldly states that were outside of our borders or anything our ancestors left.

I had hidden my families ancient letters and items they brought with them and hid them in a compartment I made that slid out of my wall with a simple knock on the wall four times.

Four was an unlucky number as declared by Cornelius himself, but lucky for me. None of the guards or my parents could find anything suspicious other than my work bench that was always filled with different papers with drawings my mind had pushed into the back of my mind, sprinkled with gears here and there.

"Joyce!" My mother would always call when it was time to grab a bit off food. "The Yellow Jemp is ready!"

Setting my pen down with a click onto the glass, I looked beyond my coated blond hair.

It must be a holiday I've forgotten of.

Walking down the stairs, with each step overturning the stair to a cleaner side where you could see your face easily while the dirty stair was cleaned for the next time you walked up and down the stairs.

No, not everyone had such devices; my mom decided that we needed it.

You see, my dad was part of Cornelius' advisers until he went missing one day seven years ago. Unfortunately, the same thing happened like all the other people who just up and disappeared all of a sudden, no notes, no explanation.

"Deary, watch where you're stepping!" A bell-like voice chimed before I hit into the black marble table which held bright blue lilies in a vaguely pink vase.

My mother glided with the plate of food to the table as if she was on air. Her platinum blond hair was always pulled back into complicated braids with flowers entwined throughout it. Green eyes that never lost energy were darting from the kitchen to the floors to make sure the house was as clean as it could be.

Nothing gave her more pride than when the guards came and commented on how the house was kept.

The dining table was smaller than most, considering most families had more than three children. I never wanted to ask why I was an only child, but I figured that asking would be out of line, even for my questions.

"What was your day like?" She would always ask as she set out the napkins carefully before folding her skirt underneath her and sitting down gingerly.

Normally, I would answer that we were learning something about the state.

I guess today just was an off day for me. "I read about Ace Nomanli."

The only thing I could hear was the knife cut through her meat lightly.

Clearing my throat, I mimicked her motions. "Don't you think he found something great out there? I mean, what if there's like… a utopia just waiting for us?" She didn't answer me.

I didn't know if she was afraid of someone listening or if she just didn't know how to answer my ambitious question. Not like anyone else would either, they were too afraid of the guards coming in during the night and bring them to Cornelius without question before being punished.

If we were punished at all.

Finally she stopped staring at the plate as if it was going to magically get up and talk to her about a magical land where she would be the queen.

"Joyce, why don't you go finish your homework? I have to get to the post."

With that said she got up and fixed the blue stained skirt before walking out of the dining room before leaving saying a quiet goodbye and shutting the white door.

I knew someone had the answer, someone out there had to be as curious as me.

There just had to be.

**A/N:**

**This is the _last_ chapter I'm putting up on FF.n, you can find the upcoming chapters on dA on my dA profile (blackPaprmoon).  
**


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